TV's favourite gays

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Daffyd Thomas (played by openly gay comic Matt Lucas) may be the only gay in his village, but he's not the only gay in Little Britain. The comedy's other homosexual characters include Prime Minister's aide Sebastian and hoity-toity vomiter Maggie.

Daffyd  Little Britain

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He's thuper! Thanks for athking! Big Gay Al pops up in South Park from time to time to teach the boys a thing or two about tolerance.

Big Gay Al  South Park

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Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet) copped some flack for never sharing a kiss in Modern Family's first season. Aside from that, they were a great (not to mention hilarious) depiction of a gay couple.

Mitchell and Cameron  Modern Family

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The loveable talk-show host broke new ground in the late '90s when her character in her self-titled sitcom Ellen came out of the closet at the same time the real-life Ellen did.

Ellen DeGeneres  The Ellen DeGeneres Show

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The gals on Sex and the City have often been described as gay men in women's bodies, but there were some actual homosexuals on the series. Foremost among them were Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson) and Anthony Marentino (Mario Cantone). They hated each other in the TV series, but hooked up in the first movie and married in the sequel.

Stanford and Anthony  Sex and the City

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"Willow's not driving stick anymore?" one of the Buffy characters remarked, not long after the young wicca (Alyson Hannigan) started dating her fellow college student Tara (Amber Benson).

Willow and Tara  Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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Will & Grace made history by being the first sitcom to have a gay leading man, but also attracted criticism from those who thought the hit sitcom reinforced stereotypes.

Will & Grace

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Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) officially came out of the closet early in Glee's first season, and while he's a little on the stereotypical side  soft-spoken, a great dresser  he's pretty darn sweet.

Kurt  Glee

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When he's not eyeing off anything that moves (be it male or female) Captain Jack (played by openly gay actor John Barrowman) leads a team dedicated to fighting extraterrestrial nasties.

Captain Jack Harkness  Torchwood

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Appearing the first two seasons of the British teen drama Skins, Maxxie Oliver (Mitch Hewer) was popular, a great dancer, and darn pretty.

Maxxie  Skins

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No list of TV gays and lesbians would be complete without Waylon Smithers. He started out with a not-so-subtle crush on his boss Mr Burns before gradually coming out of the closet during The Simpsons' two-decade run.

Smithers  The Simpsons

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Smithers isn't the only gay character on The Simpsons. Marge's sister Patty famously stepped out of the closet in the 2005 episode 'There's Something About Marrying'.

After being fired in a 2005 episode, assistant district attorney Serena Southerlyn (Elisabeth Rohm) asked her boss, "Is this because I'm a lesbian?" L&O fans were stunned: the character's sexuality had never been mentioned or even hinted at until her final moments in the series.

Serena Southerlyn  Law & Order

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Marc (Michael Urie) isn't afraid to get the claws out, but he's more than just a gay diva working at fashion magazine Mode  he showed himself to have a soft and sensitive side on many occasions.

Marc St. James  Ugly Betty

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The cast of Queer as Folk- a US soap based on a much-grittier British drama of the same name  included characters that encompassed the broad spectrum of gay personalities.

Queer as Folk

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The female equivalent of Queer as Folk, The L Word features lipstick lesbians, drag kings and everyone in between.

The L Word

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Putting aside the fact that a cutie like Scotty (Luke Macfarlane, who's openly gay) would never date a guy with hair as awful as Kevin's (Matthew Rhys, the couple has been praised for demonstrating that gay relationships share the ups and downs of their straight counterparts.

Scotty and Kevin  Brothers & Sisters

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Dr Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes) was initially best known for her distinctive limp  she walked with a cane  but eventually she revealed she was a lesbian.